1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to telecommunications systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for data mining in a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, telecommunications systems provide the ability for two or more people or machines (e.g., computerized or other electronic devices) to communicate with each other. A telecommunications system may include various networks for facilitating communication that may be generally organized into packet networks and circuit-switched networks. An exemplary circuit-switched network includes a plain old telephone system (POTS), such as the publicly switched telephone network (PSTN). Exemplary packet networks include internet protocol (IP) networks, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks, frame-relay networks, and the like. One type of packet network is a voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) network.
Some network providers are configured to provide both telephony services and data services (e.g., Internet services). These services may be provided to various types of enterprise entities. The network provider has access to information for the customers of the enterprise entities that can be of great value to the enterprise entities. For example, an enterprise entity may find it useful to analyze customer access patterns with respect to telephony service versus data service. It is thus desirable for a network operator to mine this customer specific information. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for a method and apparatus for data mining in a communication network.